Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1887-02-25
/, The EsouLENr POTATO.
Thoughts Suggested by the Ter Centenary
of Its Introduction Into England.


Thoughts Suggested by the Ter Centenary
of Its Introduction Into England.
The potato is of honored lineage and
reputable descent. This esculent, far
inaceous tuber has name and . fame
that have gone round the world.
Wherever it is known, and it is known
everywhere, it is recognized as the
best of food for both rich and poor.
and is welcomed alike to the table OF
the prince and peasant.
The turkey is fowl of undoubted
American nativity, and yet it was pop
ularly, though improperly, christened
after the land of the OFT oman because
of the fallacious fancy that it found its
drst home and successful introduction
into polite society in the Sultan's do
minions. In something of the same
way the potato came to have the coun-
try OF its birth located in the wrong
hemisphere. j. has been generally
credited to Ireland. and to this day
even wcll-informed persons make tho
distinction between the sweet and the
''Irish potato" The fact is, both fowl
and plant are true-born native Ameri-
cans and never required naturalization
here.
Few of the long-cultivated plants,
especially of the kitchcn-garden, have
an origin and history as clear rs
the potato. The Spaniards in their
conquest of Central and South Amer
lea, composed of campaigns marked
by their greed of gold and cruelty
almost without a parallel, were the
means of introducing into Europe a
knowledge of the then almost unknown
American continent, and of taking
back across the main many plants, ami
mails and articles that were wholly
new to the denizens of the older hem
ispherc. These rovers found the
potato in the neighborhood of Quito,
and discovered that it had long been
raised by the supplemented natives,
who had received it and the method Of
its cultivation from their fathers. The
Spanish armies were accompanied by
the disciples of the Cross, and one Of
these named Cardan is reputed to have
been the first to introduce the potato
into Spain.
1t is, however, the English history of
the. potato to which attention is here
directed. A high authority ascribes
the Introduction of the popular tuber
into England to John Hawkins, about
1868. This Hawkins is identified with
that navigator who laid the foundation
for the slave trade in which so many
lordly families in England grew rich
and powerful until the moral sense OF
the English people became so aroused
through the agitation of Wilberforce
and his co-workers that the Govern
ment was compelled toput stop to The
traffic. Other authors identify the plant
which Hawkins and Drake took to
the Kingdom of the Virgin Queen,
Elizabeth, with the sweet potato. In
1886 potato tubers were carried from
North Carolina and Virginia to Ireland.
These specimens were taken by return
ing cOlonists who had been sent out to
America by Sir Walter Raleigh. There
can be no doubt that that nobleman
was the first to have the potato cult.
waited there, and his estate near Cork
Is noted as the place where this was
done. Thus it was that Raleigh's name
became inseparably connected with the
potato. The beginning of the popular
favor accorded this new article of food
is directly traceable to him. As early
as 1887 the potato had assumed such
Importance that it was not unfre-
quently mentioned by tho writers of
that period. Ir1
Since that period the potato has been
planted and popularized in every civil
lied country. Three centuries Of cul-
ture have worked wonders, but Of the
multitude of varieties that have been
produced all have the characteristics
of the original taken from Carolina
soil. With the years 1t has continued
to grow in favor, and is in more gem
eral use now than ever before. - Chicago
Inter Ocean.